What It's Like Using Hailo, The Instant Taxi-Hailing App That Just Raised $30 Million

Alyson Shontell, provided by

Updated 7:53 am, Monday, April 15, 2013

This past week I visited London and got to know the startup scene there.

One of the most promising new tech companies to come out of Europe is Hailo, an iPhone app that lets you hail a nearby cab in real time.

The best part: you can pay with a pre-loaded credit card so you don't have to have cash on you to hitch a ride.

Hailo is almost identical to Uber, a San Francisco-based black car service. Uber works well in California, and it now operates in multiple cities, letting app users hail black cars and cabs from their phones.

While Uber has launched in London, Hailo is a much better experience there. When I fired up the Uber app from my East London hotel, the nearest car was 16 minutes away. The nearest Hailo was two minutes away and the car arrived in less than that time.

Hailo has had so much success abroad, U.S.-based investors are helping it launch in the states. In February, notable New York investment firm Union Square Ventures led a $30 million investment in Hailo. VC Fred Wilson said it was an "I told you so" investment — Hailo had done everything it said it would do in 2012 and more.

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Hailo isn't yet available in New York, so we were eager to try it abroad. It worked like magic, although cab drivers we spoke to were irritated with the app for little things, such as the cash cut and inaccurate passenger locations on maps. One said he tried to use it as little as possible.

Disclosure: London & Partners, a not-for-profit backed by London's mayor, paid for me to visit London and explore its Tech City.

Hailo launched in 2010, and it will soon be live in nearly a dozen cities throughout Europe and the U.S.

Here's where you can currently use Hailo to find a cab. It's coming to New York City soon.

It takes just a few taps on the screen to hail a cab. Here's how it works.